Hanna-Barbera Productions
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. (simply known as Hanna-Barbera and also referred to as H-B Enterprises, H-B Production Company and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons), was an American animation studio that dominated American television animation for three decades in the mid-to-late 20th century, founded in 1957 by former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (creators of Tom and Jerry) and live-action director George Sidney in partnership with Screen Gems, television arm of Columbia Pictures. Sold to Taft Broadcasting in late 1966, it spent two decades as its subsidiary. Hanna-Barbera is known for creating a wide variety of popular animated characters. For over 30 years, successful hit cartoon shows were produced, including Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Wacky Races, Scooby-Doo and The Smurfs. For their achievements, Hanna and Barbera together won seven Academy Awards, eight Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.23 The pair was also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1993. Hanna-Barbera's fortunes declined in the mid-1980s when the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication. In late 1991, the studio was purchased from Taft (by then named Great American Broadcasting) by Turner Broadcasting System (Ted Turner's company), who used much of its back catalog to program its new TV channel, Cartoon Network. After Turner purchased the company, Hanna and Barbera continued to serve as creative consultants and mentors. Turner merged with Time Warner in 1996 and the studio became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Animation, into which Hanna-Barbera was absorbed after Hanna died in 2001. Cartoon Network Studios continued the projects for the channel's output. Barbera went on to work for Warner Bros. Animation until his death in 2006. As of 2017, the studio exists as an in-name-only unit used to market properties and productions associated with the Hanna-Barbera library, specifically its "classic" works. In 2005, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences honored Hanna and Barbera with a bronze wall sculpture of themselves and their characters. When Boomerang launched on April 1, 2000, it was dedicated entirely to archival content from Hanna-Barbera (although a few shows from other companies, such as ''Looney Tunes'', ''Merrie Melodies'', ''Popeye'', and ''The Pink Panther'', aired on the network as well). However, most of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons were removed from Boomerang's line-up in 2014, and the remaining three shows, [[Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!|''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!]], [[The Flintstones|''The Flintstones]], and ''The Smurfs'''' (as well as some of the shows the studio co-produced with Cartoon Network, such as [[Dexter's Laboratory|''Dexter's Laboratory]]) were removed from Boomerang's line-up in 2017. However, ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'', which was originally removed from Boomerang's line-up on January 29, 2016, as well as some of the shows that the studio co-produced with Cartoon Network, returned to Boomerang's schedule on January 1, 2018, and are the only Hanna-Barbera cartoons that are currently on the main Boomerang channel, though many Hanna-Barbera cartoons can be found on Boomerang's SVOD service, which launched on April 11, 2017. Category:Production Companies Category:Hanna-Barbera Category:Animation Studios Category:Companies